The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-11

| cause OF God on earth were eXtIngulShet
| in the bloody execution of his Lord and
| King and can see how the hands Of wicked
men, in wicked acts, have not defeated,
have only accomplished, the determinate
| counsel and foreknowledge of God.
GODS PURPOSE CONTROLLING.
1T was a splendid triumph of Christian
| faith, and not faith only, but of Christian
| knowledge and understanding, when that
| company of Jerusalem disciples, little
| later, harried by the prosecutions alike of
| jew and Gentle, could look back from the
midst of terrors and threatenings and eXult
| in the universal government of God and the
mighty pos whereby ne is able 10 sublue
| all things unto himself, even the craft and
| violence of wicked men. They look out from
| their upper chamber upon the gathering
| storm; they look back toward that day of
anguish when the shepherd was smitten
and the sheep We're scattered abroad
and break forth together into singing: For
| of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus
whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and
| POntius Plate with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel, were gathered together to
| do whatsoever thy hand and Thy counsel
| determined before to come to pass There
was no doubt in their minds at all, that
| Gods purpose had been controlling for its
| own beneicent ends all that wide cOnspira-
cy of wrong doing; and there was no fear at
ali LlldL III recognizing JuuS lIlt NpNtl uill8
purpose of God, they might thereby be com
promising themselves with the wrong, or
implying a divine certificate that wrong
was right, "A
MY dear friends, is the doctrine of the
divine Scriptures on this subject clear
to you-perfectly clear or must |
go on still further accumulating the
examples of Gods protest against the misin-
depreciation of His providDnceg IL, indeed
haNya bar,fla lIis in, III.
word, that individual events in history,
whether personal or national, are not TO be
construed as deciding moral questions, then
| beg you hold on to it. As you value your
cleaTneSs of mind and your comfort of con
science, never again allow yourself to be
confused or bewildered on this point, for it
is pitifu to see how often Christian people,
with the Bible in their hands and with all
the lights of history TO read il by, will
nevertheless drop down into the same
miserable mistake with which the friends
of Job went moaning and maunder-
ing about his dung-hill-the mistake
of supposing that God governs the world
on the plan OF measuring out every year so
much suffering to so much sin, SO that the
greatest sufferer is always the greatest
sinner.
COMMON ERROR.
"Do you think this is not common error
1 L
been IN this town | have read sermon
printed in full in the Southern H'eSbytetinn
arguing that the earthquakes of last autumn
were due to the neglect of discipline in the
Southern Presbyterian church And | once
knew the case of Christian minister who
had pointed certain sufferers under great
Calamities, for their comfort, to the heavenly
truth that even such calamitieS are compre-
hended in the beneficent providence of God.
and in snngnnuauGn GYprpnn1 NJ JaN-
after day in the newspapers by angry
anonymous writers who honestly
no doubt, did not know any better than to
believe that this implied that God had taken
sides against the sufferers, and had adiudi-
cate certain moral, political, constitutional
and historical questions in favor of another
party!
"We have already seen something, in
passing, of the mischiefs incident to this de-
fusion. Perhaps the worst perils are those
which it brings to the prosperous and sue
cessful and happy, tempted thus to plume
themselves with self-cOmplacency as if they
We're the favorteS of heaven. But the pain
which il brings is to the unhappy, the dis
appointed, the afflicted. Once let this
mistake get rooted in their minds, and, rs
they look back on calamtieS that have
fallen on them, what alternative is left to
them' Either they must regard themselves as
condemned of God, and give themselves
over TO painful Searchngs Of heart and dis
treSs of mind as to what the sins are on
which these Affections are visited: or else
they must lapse into the dismal doubt
whether there Is any universal purpose of
God controlling all events, and whether the
events which they do not like are not really
the work of fate, or of luck, or of the devil;
of some power that has got the better of
God and defeated him.
MORAL BISCHIEFS
"Such are some of the spiritual mischiefs
that result. Think of the moral miSchiefS
Can anyone estimate how much of tho vi
olence and cruelty with which the world is
filed, springs from this notion that ques-
tions of truth or falsehood, right or
wrong, could be settled by the
outward success or failure in
a material conflict There comes through
the country roads one preaching an unpop-
ular doctrine-no matter what; perhaps he
is a Christian missionary, perhaps he is
Mormon. He openly declares Il hold this
to be true and that false; this to be right
and the other wrong DO you, indeedP
answers the angry crowd; we will settle
that and thoy proceed to settle these moral
and religious queStiOnS-howf BY u lynch
court, by tar and feathers, or by a rope
And it is settled speedily. There is poor
wretch hiding in ignominy somewhere, away
from the jeering of men; or q swinging
corpse, with its anguished face turned sky
ward; or namelesS and diShonored grave
in the woods. And there is triumph
ant crowd struggling homeward with
laughter and eXultation. II is all settled
now isn't it, Surely there cannot be any
further doubt on these ethical and doctrinal
questions, after such a conclusive argument
as thisl And yet, there the questions are
again, just as open as they We're before Just
as the questions which Stephen had argued
with his executioners were open and I'M
settled still when good men took up his
manged body and buried il with great la
mentation. Young Saul, who kept the
executioners' clothes, thought it a conclusive
demonstration, and rode on toward Damas-
Gus to renew the argument there. But Saul
presently confessed himself mistaken.
AN OBSOLETE FOLLY.
$50 with that obsolete folly, a relic, as
long as it lasted of the barbarous
superstition of ordeal, that questions of
fact or of justice can be decided by the flight
of pistol balls. 1t was far more rational to
refer them to the flight of birds or the
throw of dice. Here is a question of veraci-
ty, n question of honor No use arguing il;
it must be decided by a higher appeal; it
must be settled 10y that intelligent and august
procedure by which tribe of African can
nibals is accustomed TO settle questions of
witchcraft and at the end of the ordeal
WHAT There is settled a question of target
practice and question Of nervous tempera-